Yellowknife, WCB strike deal after two firefighters killed

Alternative measures prevent unwieldy trial in N.W.T.

By Glenn Tait

01/04/2007|Canadian Employment Law Today

On March 17, 2005, two Yellowknife firefighters died fighting a fire at a building supply centre. These were the first fatalities, let alone serious injuries, for the City of Yellowknife and its fire division. The deaths attracted national attention.

Rather than go to court, the city and the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) used an alternative measures agreement to address the problems constructively. But it didn’t start out that way.

One year after the fire, in March 2006, the WCB charged the city, the fire chief and a deputy fire chief, who had been in command at the fire scene, under the Northwest Territories